McKenzie could be out in Oakland

Posted by Mike Florio on December 29, 2013, 2:44 PM EST

AP

At a time when it’s regarded as a given that coach Dennis Allen will be fired by the Raiders and that G.M. Reggie McKenzie likely is safe, there’s talk in league circles that G.M. Reggie McKenzie could indeed be on the outs as well.

Regarded by many as the only guy who is truly safe in Oakland, owner Mark Davis could indeed decide to clear the decks and start over, two years after dumping coach Hue Jackson and hiring a true G.M.

Via Jerry McDonald of InsideBayArea.com, former Raiders CEO Amy Trask raised an interesting point on CBS Sports Network earlier in the day regarding the performance of McKenzie and Allen since landing their jobs.

“The narrative has changed in Oakland,” Trask said. “Just about two years ago at the press conference, Reggie [McKenzie] remarked that he had looked at the [salary] cap situation and it was manageable. He said the team would be fine. Nothing wholesale would need to be done. And Dennis Allen emphasized at that press conference that there was talent on both sides of the ball. That there was enough talent to compete at the highest levels of the NFL. And that there was talent to compete for a championship in 2012.

“Well the team then went out in 2012 and went 4-12 after having been one game removed from the playoffs the year before. . . . Continuity is important. I argued with Al [Davis] about that all the time. We had so many arguments, about a lot of things, but about the importance of continuity. But at some point, you have to say, ‘What is more important? Keeping the same person in place or evaluating and considering and making sure you have the right person in place’. . . . When you ask if [Allen] is the right person, I go back to what I opened with. Why has that narrative changed entirely in two years with the team’s performance?”

The narrative was crafted, and then changed, both by McKenzie and Allen. Come Monday, Mark Davis could decide to tear up the script.

McKenzie did what was needed. He purged the roster of overpaid talent, setting them up for the future with cap flexibility. Firing him now can only mean they don’t think he’s the talent evaluator they need, which is a pretty large conclusion to jump to after just two drafts.

It would be a shame if they got rid of them both. McKenzie did the dirty work. That being, clean up the salary cap mess Al Davis and Hue Jackson left behind. Allen tried to make the best out of the situation. Now that it is fresh start after two years of cleaning up they are going to dump them both? Same old script in Oakland. Rebuild, wait two year, rebuild again. They must be taking notes on how Cleveland does things.

Please fire Mckenzie! 2 years of failed draft picks and signings. He has proven to be a disaster.
Raiders got rid of Palmer who is 10- 5 with the Cardinals. He turned an 8-8 team into one of the worst teams in the NFL.

Reggie was put into one of the WORST situations in the history of the NFL when he signed with my Raiders. Absolute cap hell and practically NO draft picks in his first draft and not a whole lot more last draft. Its amazing that He and DA have the Raiders at 4 wins and keeping most games close. It would be idiotic to fire either of them.

All Amy Trask is doing is to expose that she was part of the problem in Oakland. I think she should go work for the Chargers/Broncos/Chiefs ASAP!

Maybe McKenzie and Allen were overly optimistic when they were angling for the jobs, but that’s to be expected.

The purge for salary cap space was necessary to cut nonproductive players on huge contracts, and we’ll lack the cheap production from the high picks that were traded for over the hill vets for many years to come. Neither of those two problems were created by either Allen or McKenzie.

Reggie is doing an excellent job.he inherited a team in cap pregatory and got rid of the bums that didn’t deserve the contracts they were given (kelly,routt,dhb to name a few) and made the best of the situation with his arm tied behind his back.now with over 60m under the cap a full slate of draft plus compensation picks for departed FA the raiders will return to respectability thanks in part to reggie McKenzie,amy trask is an outsider looking in now and sounds like a disgruntled former employee.

Reggie has done a great job of clearing room and cutting out the bad seeds, but now the Raiders needs a GM that can build. While a master of the de-construct (fielding a team with the cap issues he inherited is to be marveled at), Reggie has done a poor job in two huge areas:

– Personnel. I think that Allen needs a few more years as a coordinator under his belt before he will be ready to coach. I think that DA might have been a good choice for a defensive coordinator under a defensive minded coach, but was a terrible choice as a head coaching hire. He often appears lost, can’t adjust and has hired a mediocre staff.

As far as his drafting, even with limited picks in 2012 his picks have been pretty poor. While there is still time for a few of the guys he drafted (…the ones that are still with the team) to grow, he reached for Hayden (Star Lotulelei was the smarter pick) so far he has been able to add one starter (out of 16 picks – 6 4th round or better) to the leagues worst roster in two years: Sio Moore (46 tackles, 3.5 sacks @ LB).

Reggie has helped un-Al the team – now they need a coach AND GM who know what the heck they are doing.

Oakland will never be contenders again. You can’t build a great team in 1-2 years. Now they will get a new GM and possibly a new coach who has a different vision, and will want to build it their own way.

I say give Allen one more year and Reggie also. They haven’t had much to work with. The players on the team now would be backups and even 3rd string players on most other teams. I’m not happy with the draft the had this year. I expected a DT to be taken. With the huge salary cap (60 or so million) watch carefully who is re-signed and who comes in from other teams before the draft. A seasoned QB is needed (Cutler isn’t the answer), then DL and OL in the draft. My opinion………..

Not buying this story, sorry. As a lifelong Raider fan, it just doesnt seem sensible long term to keep firing people every 2 years. He needs more time. The organization was in shambles after Big Al died. RM has what it takes. He deserves at least one more year as does Dennis. Unless of course you can lock up Gruden which is a longshot.

What were they suppose to say? How well would it have gone over if ol’ regmac went “this team is a complete disaster. Whoever orchestrated this mess should be excommuned from the nfl. Its going to take 2 whole years just to clear out the fat and inject some talent.” How many tickets would be sold then?

Why? Reggie has done all the hard things. Reggie got you 70 mil. in cap. And got rid of the big contracts that weren’t needed. Let him sign people during free agency and put a team together. Firing him now would be the dumbest thing we could do.

It looks like Mark doesn’t know what he’s doing. It doesn’t make it better that Al Davis shamed him publicly many times when it came to being involved in the team. It just looks like he’s trying his hardest to prove himself to everybody else and failing hard.

Interesting Theory..this just may open the door for Gruden to bring in his crew..it makes sense more and more especially when we know that Reggie has blew up the team and mistakenly failed on the last 2 drafts…Raider Nation alone lobbied for the players we wanted to draft..which are now playing well with their respective teams..all in all.. Allen failed on the coaching side..and Reggie failed on the draft and his plan…the team we have now could have won 10 games this season…that knock alone goes on Allen for his failure to prepare and adapt. Reggie goes due to his failed 2 year plan.

McKenzie got the Raiders in one of the best salary cap situations for the future. And that was after he walked into a bee jive covered in honey. Oakland was a mess because of what Al Davis did, and now his spoiled son is looking to ruin what was just accomplished. That’s a real shame.

All the dumb and dumber Reggie supporters posting excuse after excuse. Reggie has not brought any talent to this team. All his picks in the draft most likely would not make it on any other team in the NFL.
RM’s new book “How to destroy a franchise in a few offseasons”
8-8 team to the bottom of the NFL thanks for nothing Reggie!

How hard was it for McKenzie to remove the fat of the team? Not hard at all. Any buffoon could have managed that.
How hard was it for McKenzie to replace that fat with players who earn their checks? Obviously more difficult since he was not able to replace all of the fat but managed to sign mostly 2nd string players.
How hard is it for McKenzie to draft talent? Very difficult, for anybody, but more so for McKenzie who has not had a good draft in 2 seasons, regardless of lack of picks from his 1st season.

How hard is it for Allen to coach this team. Not very difficult for a coach with any head coaching experience. Allen has screwed the pooch time after time, from implementing the ZBS (even without having the personnel) to then dumping said ZBS after only one season to horrible 2nd half adjustments during games (or the lack thereof) to the management of determining a starting QB.
Flynn was given the keys to the job blindly by both McKenzie and Allen who then change course and announce Pryor the starter after a couple of games in the regular season to swapping in McGloin.
I agree with Trask that both McKenzie and Allen are only good for producing lip service.
God help the Raiders if McKenzie and Allen are allowed to manage the new surplus of salary cap and another top 5 draft pick.

I wouldn’t put a lot of stock into the report. It’s speculation based on speculation.
I think McKenzie messed up in hiring Allen. Should have gone with an experienced NFL guy who would have been more comfortable being honest with RM about talent – “well, these guys suck, but I’ll do my best” instead of “Yeah, for an undrafted free agent making the minimum he’s probably the best out there.”
Still – that RM was hired with the input of Madden – that’s pretty huge.

Yeah and Amy has no dog in this fight. Forget the “narrative”. This team has sucked for a really long time. Own it Amy. Her and Pollian rewriting their own history. Sorry Amy but we Raider fans know what we know. You FAILED.

Great idea, fire the guy who took over the mess that al Davis created over the years and help give the raiders the highest salary cap in nfl history. $60 million in cap that Reggie created and it only took 2 years, shouldn’t he get the chance to build a winning team with all that money to spend. If the raiders fire him, back to square one, they’ll hire a nobody who’ll set the team back even more and the raiders will continue to suck. You’re never gonna build a team if you keep firing a guy every two years, Reggie needs at least 4 years to fix a decade mess

I’m a RAIDERS fan and I’m so sick and tired of hearing all these so called raider fans bashing my team!! If u don’t like what’s going on then jump ship with the rest of them.. Don’t come crawling back when we turn this thing around!!!

There was talent on both sides of the ball. The problem is the GM can’t evaluate coaches, and neither can the Head coach he hired.They fired half the staff last year and are still talking about firing assistants after this year.

Keeping Dennis Allen and Reggie Mac together will be just rearranging the deck chairs on the titanic. This combo will not work, and will be fired eventually. It’s just prolonging the inevitable.

The Raiders are at ground zero..it’s imperitive that they use this cap space and these next draft classes with the right head coach in place. A head coach that can evaluate coaching talent and develop players.

On one side of it McKenzie has done a great job sorting out the cap (Tons of space next year) and getting rid of overpriced crap. Totally revamping the scouting department, ‘small’ things like upgrading the facilities/computers and just making the Raiders like a 2013 franchise not set in the past.

However his player decisions havent been great, whether its trading for Matt Flynn (huge mistake), drafting Tyler Wilson or Tony Bergstrom, this draft ‘expert’ has not done much at all.

Allen does not give me any confidence, both of his seasons he seems to go 1-7 in the second half of the season, nothing changes, no surprise wins like other teams who may be out of the playoffs but who show something late.

On one hand he had a weak roster but with a lot of cap space next year and a high draft pick i’m nervous that McKenzie/Allen might waste it.

Lack of talent does not cause bad play calling, crappy clock management and poor discipline.

As far as Reggie, I haven’t seen the swami-effect that so many claimed he had. I’m neither here nor there on him, and it makes sense to get rid of him if you are going after a Gruden or a Cowher that will want to be in charge of spending that $60M cap space we have net year.

My issue with McKenzie was not in blowing up the team but in taking 2 years to do so. All the scholarship should’ve been cleared out in 2012 so that we would’ve been able to start establishing a good roster in 2013 (rather than waiting for 2 years). I’ve also not been overly impressed by his draft picks. Still I think he should be retained for a 3rd year to see if he can improve the team now with the cap room.

As for Trask, she has zero credibility in my eyes for two reasons. (1) she was tied with John Herrera for being Al Davis’ top sycophant and (2) she was with the Raiders from 1987 to 2012 which was a dismal period when the Raiders enjoyed only 2 short successful periods (’90-’93 and ’00-’02) – she certainly played NO ROLE in the Raiders great years from the mid ’60s to mid ’80s.

Please stop using that Reggie got rid of Palmer as a reason for him to go. Carson said he didn’t want to play for the Raiders in 2013, ask Bengals fans what he does when he quits. Unfortunately there wasn’t a Hue Jackson around to give away the store for him.

After reading some of these posts … I can’t stop laughing.
Seriously any housewife could have done what Reggie did. Wow … cut the fat what a tough job.
A GM’s job is to field a competative team … two straight seasons of 4-12 when you took over an 8-8 team … yup great job.
What exactly has Reggie done?
Reggie thought the QB position was the problem because he cut Flynn and traded Palmer … both are quarterbacking a team trying to make the playoffs in the last 2 weeks of the season. He drafted a QB only to cut him. Everyone who watched the Raiders knew the OL and the defense was the problem.
Yes in Reggie we trust … what a joke!

If we can get Gruden I say fire them both & give him complete control. They need a coach with experience not a rookie trying to learn on the job. I was willing to give Reggie a chance till he wasted draft picks on the Flynn experiment & also cutting a draft pick for a walk on QB that wasn’t all that good. So in my eyes he’s not a good GM or judge of talent.

Maybe this is just a case of the media hyping what another person from the media says, who knows what is going on in the brain trust of the franchise, I live in NY and last week Rex Ryan was as good as gone in the medias eyes, now he just got a vote of confidence for another year, and probably a contract extension. One thing I will say, is if Pryor is even in the mix as the starter next year, then McKenzie and Allen should both be fired before the season starts.

I’m tired of the Reggie/DA excuse makers talking about this huge mess they inherited. They had a great head coach and a capable QB in place. They inherited a team that went 8-8 & 8-8 the two years prior and have gone 4-12 & 4-12.

So what is Ms. Trask doing these days? Was she immediately hired by another NFL team?
Or was she part of the dysfunction going on with the franchise in the previous decade of fail following the 2003 Super Bowl?

Raider fans are looking forward to a productive off season. With so much cap space & high draft picks, I really do not think that Bergstrom-Hayden-Watson picking Shrek McKenzie can be trusted to make the most of this big opportunity for the franchise.

His first mistake was selecting he Pink Panther for his HC. What ever made him think his players would respond to some skinny, weak, squeaky voiced guy who preaches “toughness”, yet doesn’t even shave yet?

He had Hue. At least the players respected Hue & played hard for him. That bed wetting Jacoby Ford has STILL not stopped pouting for Hue! I think Denarius Moore stopped playing hard as soon as Snoopy Allen showed up. McFragile quit on the team, Bergstrom is a nobody…etc

The Raider record is indicative of the lockerroom’s true feelings about “Pinky”. They don’t play hard for him because he is constantly getting outcoached. He rarely makes adequate half time adjustments, & the play calling is pathetic.

I have been a Raider fan since BEFORE McKenzie played for the team. I was optimistic when he was hired. As soon as he picked Bergstrom, & Bergstrom pussied out, I thought “uh oh”.

When he picked a 2nd rd talent in the first rd, then a 3rd rd talent in the 2nd rd this year, it almost looked like sabotage…especially since Watson is an injured whiner, & Hayden was often toasted & showing no signs of life.

McKenzie has to pay for his ignorant sin of pride against the Raider Nation. Fire his over rated ass.

The ‘narrative’ Amy Trask is talking about is the narrative that was set forth to the public and press. The private narrative was about breaking down the Raiders and building them back up – that has never changed and was never going to be admitted to the public. How do you tell paying customers that the team will go through multiple rebuilding seasons? Of course, only the uninformed fans needed to be told this anyway and we can see many of those fans are posting here right now.

Ultimately, Trask knows very well all of this and her agenda is to take shots at the people who replaced her role at the Raiders. Mark Davis pushed her out and that can’t sit well with her.

Not so fast…I’ll give RM and DA a pass on the 2012 draft because that was not at all an ideal position. HOWEVER, the 2013 draft was ALL on either or both of them. DJ Hayden (1), Menelik Watson (2), Tyler Wilson (4), are major screw ups by this staff. Teams expect production, of some kind, out of the top 4 picks (‘Build through draft). Instead, Raiders drafted a dude on death bed, a guy that never played football, and a QB with hands smaller than my 10 year old, and couldn’t even make team. As for HC, I am not so much looking at consecutive 4-12 records, I’m looking at improvement and development of players, defense, game management, and news conferences. I’ll start with latter first: Every time I heard DA in post-game news conferences, he always said the same things. No progression, not differences, always missed assignments, missed chances, teams fault, blah, blah, blah…Dude, did you practice? Further, whats up with his ‘deer-in-the-headlights’ game personality and management…The fans seem to know more about the game than this guy does. OC schemes…man, this offense is tough to watch…Play calling takes to long, QB has to hold the ball too long, not enough crossing routes or passes to the flat to my playmakers, too many DANG Dive plays…Its called creativity and imagination, that is, getting the ball in the playmakers hands…Why do people have to pressure you to utilize the biggest weapon you have – Marcel Reece. Big problems with this staff, and if Gruden is down, they’re gone, but if not Gruden, we gotta stick with these dudes for a while…Lots of talent coming in next year, so cant just fire everybody next year because continuity will be paramount!!!

Baby Davis biggest mistake was blowing up the ship and bring in inexperienced staff to rebuild the franchise. He admis he is not comfortable about the running of a NFL team His father kept him out of that segment. His best bet, like any new manager is sit back and evaluate what works and what needs changing. His father had given the reins to two very experienced and loyal employees that bleed Silver and Black. Hue Jackson and Amy Trask. Amy new more about the team, and politics of restructuring a winning team, then Mark will ever know . Hue knew the talent, had changed the imageand had worked mmiracleswith a ccoaching staff, he did not pick. If left well enough alone, and keeping his ego in tact, and in keeping with the priority of consistency that Amy has pointed out, Hue would have been able to bring in his own winning staff, NFL talented players, and draft NFL caliber players, ( not players from the hospital ward). Amy Trask would have been respectable again, and Mark would have looked like a genius. Instead he felt threatened by his fathers staff, because in his own words they wouldn’t respect him, based on his NFL inexperience. Well Mark its time to step up, be a man and real owner, the two year experiment was a disaster. No more chances, you gave them one year too many! Bring in an experienced GM, and Coaching staff. Let the pros do their job, keep out of their way and make the Raider Nation respectable again. Confer with Madden, Gruden, Amy, people that will tell you the truth. Your GM has made horrible mistakes starting with Carson Palmer, talking you out of hiring Gruden. Earn respect, become a real owner and step up to the plate and just ” Fire baby, Fire” what’s real amazing even although this disaster season ticket holders like myself have continued to sell out every game. Time to reward that loyalty with a proud franchise again. 20 years as a season ticket holder, please give me one winning season before I pass.

Continuity is really important especially in Oakland because if Mark Davis developes the same mantra as his dad, then he will never get any credible GM or HC with positive experience in the NFL. That said, I am not impressed with either RM or DA. Reggie’s draft have been a bust and DA/GO do not know how to use talent. However, RM and DA inherited a mess and they must be given a chance to right the ship as long as they do it with out putting the Raiders in cap hell again.

McKenzie has single handedly destroyed this team. His player personnel decisions and moves. Horrible drafting.
Waste of cap space money for guarantee signing bonuses that are on other teams, but on the Raiders payroll. Hiring of an inexperienced coaching staff. Inability to step in when said staff was wlandering. Inability to get his coaching staff to readjust their game plan at halftime.
Kissing Davis ass so bad, that the two are joined so bad at the hip that Davis feels he’s obligated to stick it out.
Enough is enough. McKenzie may be a nice man, and he cut the cap space (which was easy to do, just get rid of the deadwood). But quite frankly he is NOT GM material and needs to return to Green Bay. Solution, this time around hire an experienced team, Gruden, Pollan, Madden etc…give them complete control and they can raise the sinking ship. Help is needed, the ship has turned into the titanic. Once proud and pretty, but can’t stay afloat. Help is there, just make the change now, so new staff can start the rebuilding process immediately.. Come on Mark, for once be a man !

Just remember their won words, ” “McKenzie remarked that he had looked at the [salary] cap situation and it was manageable. He said the team would be fine. Nothing wholesale would need to be done”. OK, he obviously did not understand that they had to put tallent on the field.

As far as Allen emphasized that, “There was talent on both sides of the ball. That there was enough talent to compete at the highest levels of the NFL. And that there was talent to compete for a championship in 2012”. Obviously, he is not a very good evaluator or tallent either.

Mark Davis needs to do what Charger ownership did when they fired their GM and Head Coach last season. Hire an agent to hire a GM who understands football, someone with a background and practice of putting together a football program like a Chip Kelly or Andy Reid who can build a coaching staff and winning tradition. Dennis Allen does not fully understand team preparation nor does Reggie Mckenzie fully understand player evaluation. For that you need experience in winning football programs. Offensive coordinator job is primary, QB is essential, position personnel all should come from someone with draft savvy. Without a franchise quarterback it’s hard to build an offense. Keep Terrell Pryor and develop his skills. Work on containment with defense and special teams. The only winning formula is change in the NFL

I get where Amy is coming from. She’s not advocating firing anyone. She is talking about continuity and why in two years time, it’s a complete 180 from the press conference.
I really don’t understand how people can come here and spew venom when she asked a legitimate question.
As Charlie Harper quoted, ‘Maybe there should be one child left behind’.
Goodness you people are victims of your environment.

Changing coaches isn’t the answer. The one thing all these firings in the NFL today have in common is poor QB play. Until the Raiders get a legitimate QB, there is no point changing head coaches. Having said that, I hope they are in position to select South Carolina DE Jadaveon Clowney in the draft this year; there isn’t a franchise QB worth taking that high in the draft this year.

To all of you “experts” who think Mekinsie should be fired for not turning this monumental mess of an Al Davis managed team around in only two years are both FOOLISH and UNREALISTIC. His job as manager of a rebuilding team was to get rid of non-performers and free up cap space for the near future building process, NOT create a playoff caliber team in his first two years while having ZERO picks and a budget that was in the red. You people expect too much too soon. Green Bay’s current success is due to Mekinsie’s drafting talent. Don’t buy into this talk. Reggie is doing a great job.

How do you get out of cap space hell? You pay the men there gold and and shuffle them somewhere else. That’s the only way to do it. Now it’s apperent that some don’t care to know the inns and outs of contracting but I do it for a living. Not in football but for business. Bottom line is you expect a product or return on your dollar. In football your dealing with peoples production so it can get really complicated. we’ll get out of this mess but I won’t pretend to know more than a team does. I sure do like that Fables kid though. Maybe he will fall to us. I would laugh if someone like Matt M. Came in as a consultant and made some really good moves. Go Raiders!

Mark Davis has the resources to replace Reggie and put someone like Mike Holmgram in charge of football operations. The current roster has not bought into anything that’s been put in place. Greg Olsen and Tarver didn’t get the roster to buy in to the schemes or the discipline. Chip Kelley tells his players what to eat and gives them one day off. No one is on the same page on the Raider roster. And this culture has existed since Jackson left. Cable had the team to buy in but couldn’t control his temper. Leadership from the staff down is required to win in the NFL otherwise players have to pick the slack and I don’t see any leaders on the current roster. Charles Woodson can’t catch Jamal Charles nor any Eagle receiver it seems.